Setting the Stage
After winning their first seven games away from home, the SWOSU basketball team suffered back-to-back losses during their last road trip. The Bulldogs earned two wins last weekend, taking down East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma State, and they look to carry over that momentum for a trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., where they will face Henderson State on Thursday night.
SWOSU snapped a three-game slide at the start of February and used wins last weekend to move back into second place in the conference, one-half game behind Arkansas Tech. The Wonder Boys are 11-4 with SWOSU right behind at 11-5, but East Central and Southern Nazarene are both hot on the trail of the Bulldogs.
The Coaches
Bob Battisti is the 14th head men's basketball coach in SWOSU history and in his first season on the Bulldogs sidelines. He most recently spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Christian University where he helped the program its first postseason basketball title in 30 years. Prior to his stint at OCU, Battisti spent 25 years at Northwestern Oklahoma State, coaching the men's basketball team for 21 seasons before taking over as the school's athletic director for four years. In more than 24 years as a head coach, Battisti has a career record of 423-304.
Doug Nichols is in his third season as the head coach at Henderson State following one season as the top assistant at fellow GAC member Arkansas Tech. He has led the Reddies to a 42-37 in the past two-plus seasons.
Last Time Out
It's safe to say
Trent Washington enjoys playing against Southeastern Oklahoma State and the zone defense the Savage Storm use against the Bulldogs.
Washington scored 20 points against Southeastern on Saturday as he helped SWOSU earn the season sweep of the Savage Storm with an 82-76 victory at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center. The scoring total for Washington is his second-highest of the season of the season – behind the 21 points he scored against SOSU in Durant – and he tied his season-high with six 3-pointers, also from that game on January 9.
Despite building a nine-point hole late in the first half,
Jordan Franz and
Kenyan Borders connected on threes on the last two possessions of the half to get SWOSU within three at 37-34 at the break.
The teams remained close for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but a 12-2 run by the Bulldogs – capped by an emphatic fast-break dunk by
Rod Camphor – gave SWOSU the 66-56 advantage with 6:13 to play. Southeastern would rally late but never get any closer than four points and the Bulldogs closed them out at the free throw line, where they hit 20-of-25 (80.0%) attempts.
Washington led Bulldogs with 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting while
Michael Bradley scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds while facing a large and athletic front court from Southeastern.
Gary Inglett added 15 points and eight rebounds while Camphor had 12 points and eight rebounds.
Last Time vs. Henderson State (January 16, 2014)
After building a 26-4 lead to open the game, SWOSU had to hold off a furious second-half rally from Henderson State to defeat the Reddies 79-76 on Thursday night at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse.
Rod Camphor,
Kenyan Borders,
Gary Inglett and
Trent Washington combined to hit six three-pointers in the game's opening eight minutes as the Bulldogs raced out to a 22-point lead. The Reddies responded by holding SWOSU without a bucket for more than nine minutes as they outscored the Bulldogs 18-1 and got within four, 31-27, near the end of the first half.
The Bulldogs kept Henderson State at arm's length for most of the second half, but the Reddies did manage to take the lead once at 53-51 after a pair of free throws from Melvin Haynes. SWOSU quickly regained control of the ballgame, pushing the lead out to eight points with just over four minutes remaining.
The lead would stay above four points until the final seconds of the game when back-to-back three pointers by Henderson State got the Reddies within one at 77-76 with two seconds to play. Inglett hit a pair of three's to seal the game as Haynes' final deep ball was off the mark, allowing the Bulldogs to earn the conference victory.
Camphor led the Bulldogs with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting while Inglett also reached the 20-point plateau and Washington came off the bench to score 15 points.
Michael Bradley also put in 11 points and blocked three shots to anchor the Bulldogs in the post.
Checking the Standings
Back-to-back wins against East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma State helped the Bulldogs move back into second place in the Great American Conference standings, one-half game behind Arkansas Tech for the GAC lead. SWOSU heads into their final road trip 11-5 in conference play while Henderson State is tied with Northwestern Oklahoma State for seventh place at 7-9 after defeating Harding on Monday night.
Scouting the Opponent
Henderson State snapped a two-game losing skid on Monday by defeating Harding 91-88 in overtime and they improved to 11-13 on the year and 7-9 in conference play. The Reddies have won three consecutive home games, but they are just 5-5 at the Duke Wells Center for the year.
A balanced offensive attack featuring six players scoring between 9.8 and 13.0 points per game has paced the Reddies, who rank fifth in the GAC by scoring an average of 74.2 points per game. Deoirvay Johnson is HSU's leading scorer, averaging 13.0 points per game while Taylor Smith (11.5), Melvin Haynes (11.4), Reggie Murphy (10.3) and Kevin Kozan (10.1) complete the lineup of double-figure scorers. The Reddies are also the top field-goal shooting team in the conference, connecting on 46.6% of their attempts from the field this season
Opponents are scoring 73.5 points per game against Henderson State, giving them the eighth-best scoring defense in the league. HSU is allowing opponents to shoot 43.8% from the field and 35.0% from 3-point range, with both marks ranking in the lower half of the conference.
Quick Hits
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Gary Inglett is the third-leading rebounder in the GAC, averaging 8.0 boards per game, and his seven double-doubles is the second-most among players in the conference
- SWOSU has committed 200 turnovers this season, the fewest in NCAA Division II. The Bulldogs are averaging 9.1 per game, which ranks third in the country
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Rod Camphor is the fourth-leading scorer in the conference with an average of 17.2 points per game. Camphor has scored 20 or more points eight times this season, the fifth-most of GAC players
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Kenyan Borders has hit 26-of-65 (40.0%) 3-pointers this season and his percentage ranks ninth in the conference
- SWOSU has blocked 97 shots this season, leading the GAC with an average of 4.4 per game. With three more blocks, the Bulldogs will reach the 100-block plateau, a mark that last season took all 28 games to achieve
Looking Ahead
The Arkansas road trip continues on Saturday at Ouachita Baptist before returning home on Tuesday for Senior Night against Southern Nazarene.
